--The US Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity intends to issue a sole source purchase order to Invitrogen Corporation, 3175 Staley RD, Grand Island, NY 14072-2028 for the purchase of UltraPURE TM Distilled Water DNASE, RNAse Free.

The US Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity intends to issue a sole source purchase order to Invitrogen Corporation, 3175 Staley RD, Grand Island, NT 14072-2090 for the purchase of ultraPure TM Distilled Water DNAse, RNAse Free for a quantity of 1000 of 3ML, 1000 of 5ML, 1000 of 1ML. No solicitation document exists. Any firm that believes it can provide the products is invited to submit written notification to the Contracting Officer within ten calendar days from the date of publication of this notice. Supporting evidence must be furnished in sufficient detail to demonstrate the firm's ability to provide the products. Information can be sent to the Contracting Officer at: USAMRAA, ATTN: MCMR-AAA-P (Jodi Cardoza), 820 Chandler Street, Frederick, MD 21702-5014. No telephone requests will be accepted. Responses received will be evaluated; however a determination by the government not to compete the proposed procurement based upon responses to this notice is solely withing the discretion of the government. If no responses are received, USAMRAA will proceed with the sole source contract. Justification and Approval for Other Than Full and Open Competition Justification 1. Contracting Activity: The Contracting Activity responsible for this action is the US Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity. 2. Description of Action: This approval is being requested for a new firm-fixed price contract using R&D Fiscal Year 2008 funds. 3. Description of Supplies/Services: The National Bioforensic Analysis Center (NBFAC) has the requirement to obtain premade water samples in 3ml, 5ml, and 1ml volumes that are utilized in multiple bioforensic assays. 4. Authority Cited: The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 10 U.S.C. 2304 (c) (1). The FAR citation is 6.302-1 and the FAR citation title is only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. 5. Reason for Authority Cited: The proposed contractor for this action is Invitrogen. Invitrogen is the sole manufacturer who produces these products within an ISO: 9001 certified facility. The NBFAC has identified these premade water samples critical to their bioforensic assays within their ISO 17025 scope of accreditation. The Invitrogen water samples were identified as critical by multiple technical experts at the NBFAC as Invitrogen is able to provide data with their products that support the purity and quality of the premade water samples, no other supplier found during Market Research will provide such details. It is imperative that the NBFAC obtains high quality data on the products they use throughout their assays as a requirement within the ISO 17025 to ensure the efficacy of the results they produce for their government customers. 6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: No efforts will be taken to obtain competition as Invitrogen is the sole manufacturer and distributor of these premade water samples produced under a high quality standard (ISO: 9001) as identified while performing Market Research. 7. Actions to Increase Competition: Increasing competition is not possible at this time as Invitrogen is the sole manufacturer and distributor of these premade water samples produced under a high quality standard (ISO: 9001) as identified while performing Market Research. 8. Market Research: Market Research was performed by Ms. Crothers of the NBFAC in October 2008. Ms. Crothers identified ThermoFisher Scientific, and Sigma Aldrich as other possible suppliers. Neither of these suppliers was willing to develop custom premade water samples at the volumes required by the NBFAC to perform their bioforensic assays. Also, neither supplier performed the same quality testing that Invitrogen performs prior to release of their products. The results from those quality tests are critical to the NBFAC to ensure they are utilizing high quality products throughout the performance of their bioforensic assays in order to adhere to the ISO 17025 standard and to ensure the efficacy of the results they produce for their government customers. 9. Interested Sources: To date, no other sources have written to express interest in this requirement. 10. Other facts: a. Procurement history. Reasonable efforts to retrieve the following items from the computer records, contract files, competition advocate office files or other sources are expected: i. Contract numbers and dates of the last several awards: These items were previously purchased from Invitrogen in June 2006 via a credit card at USAMRIID, a sole source contract was not previously developed. ii. Competitive status of these actions. This information is not available to requistioner, as these items were previously purchased via a credit card at USAMRIID. iii. Authority previously used for less than full and open competition. This information is not available to requistioner, as these items were previously purchased via a credit card at USAMRIID. iv. If a justification was prepared to support the procurement made before this one, a summary of the contents of paragraph 7 of the justification for that procurement and an explanation of the results. No previous justification was written for the purchase of these premade water samples. v. If any prior award was accomplished by full and open competition, detailed explanation of the change circumstances. This information is not available to requistioner. vi. An explanation of any unusual patterns which may be revealed by the history, e.g., several consecutive urgent buys. Not applicable. vii. If a justification was prepared to support the procurement made before this one, briefly describe the circumstances justifying the buy and whether there have been any significant changes. No previous justification was written for the purchase of these premade water samples. viii. Acquisition data availability. Due to the market research performed by Ms. Crothers which did not identify any other possible sources of these premade water samples except for those supplied by Invitrogen. No statement of work or purchase descriptions suitable for full and open competition has been developed. b. Unusual compelling urgency. Not applicable. c. Subcontracting competition: Not applicable.